Author Topic: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2  (Read 1186201 times)

gatortator

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2550 on: December 09, 2019, 05:22:39 PM »
On another note, anyone have any good cabbage recipes?  I got a double delivery from my CSA and now have 3 HUGE cabbages taking up the bottom shelf of my fridge.  (They're the standard green kind, if that matters to the recipe.)

This one might not be for everyone, but it is a highlight of fall for many Norwegians: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/83349/farikal/

I usually make mine in the crockpot, at high for around 4-5 hours. The meat has to be one the bone and contain some fat. In the crockpot I use less water than this recipe, usually no more than a cup or so. And I would put pepper and salt between each layer of meat and cabbage, not just add a bag of peppercorns.

ooh. this sounds good. 

gatortator

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2551 on: December 09, 2019, 05:41:56 PM »
I love cabbage!  It is so versatile.

A family favorite in our house is this:
https://www.budgetbytes.com/beef-cabbage-stir-fry/
easy button:  I serve it with rice
if in the mood:  I make these  https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/mandarin-pancakes

My husband started making this a lot for breakfast recently
https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/korean-cabbage-pancake
sometimes he skips the flour/water and subs in carrots, sometimes not.

Do you like Ethiopian?  We love this
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/152937/ethiopian-cabbage-dish/  (double the spices,  keep the salt the same,  halve the oil)
and usually serve it with these lentils https://www.africanbites.com/ethiopian-lentil-stew/  (with kids  only 1.5teaspoon berbere).

This is a popular dish in our house over the summer
https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cranberry-almond-coleslaw  (I sub sunflower seeds for the almonds since that is usually what I have in the house)


gatortator

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2552 on: December 09, 2019, 05:49:31 PM »

Made this cabbage soup recently and it is very good - the lemon really does transform it at the end - https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/01/cozy-cabbage-and-farro-soup/


this sounds good too.

shrimpwd

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2553 on: December 09, 2019, 07:59:48 PM »
Colcannon is also a nice simple cabbage dish. Quite a few recipes, depending on taste.

NotJen

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2554 on: December 10, 2019, 10:21:06 AM »
Colcannon is also a nice simple cabbage dish. Quite a few recipes, depending on taste.

Thanks for that suggestion - just whipped up a single-serving version of colcannon using leftover mashed potatoes.  I'm eating it with some butternut squash soup from my freezer.

Last night I finally made beef stew with many things I had saved in the freezer for that purpose - stew meat, turnips, carrots, and mashed potatoes.  Two servings went back into the freezer, and two are in the fridge to eat this week.  I was pleased with the frozen mashed potatoes - I made them a month or two ago when I needed to use up my CSA potatoes.  I froze them in an oven-proof dish, and reheated in the oven last night (after defrosting for a while) - they tasted 'good as new' to me.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2555 on: December 10, 2019, 02:24:14 PM »
@SquashingDebt , for the cabbage:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/253157/weeknight-crack-slaw/  It's one of many Crack Slaw recipes out there.

This month I MUST be more frugal than usual.  With my niece's wedding, Christmas, etc. coming up, it's been a spendy last few months.  There is venison chili in the Crock Pot for tonight, and I pulled out two unmarked mystery leftovers for tomorrow night.  Should be an adventure.  ;)  (I usually label leftovers w/  freezer tape and a Sharpie, unless we are scrambling to leave town.  Instead of letting the food go to waste during our absence, I toss them into the freezer for later use.)

Lately:
1 package each ground beef and pork
2 cans beans, 1 can each diced green chiles, diced tomatoes and tomato paste
2 free envelopes instant pasta
2 packages venison steak
Several packages of different kind of ribs
Several packages pork chops

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2556 on: December 10, 2019, 03:19:04 PM »
Thanks for all the cabbage ideas!  I made colcannon on Sunday, though because I didn't have very many potatoes to use up, it only used 1/4 of 1 of my 3 cabbages, haha.  I made that Smitten Kitchen soup a few months ago with another CSA cabbage - it was yummy!

Looking forward to trying some of the other recipes :)

NotJen

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2557 on: December 12, 2019, 11:11:51 AM »
I made a single-serve Shephards/Cottage Pie for lunch today that used up the rest of my mashed potatoes, a single serve portion of pulled pork from the freezer, and a small baggie of frozen peas from the CSA (plus carrot and onion from this week's groceries).  It was really good!

I cooked a bag of dried hominy from the pantry yesterday (I had never had hominy before).  I used 1.5 cups to make chili (also used some frozen beans and lots of frozen tomatoes - yay! - I have like 4 bags of frozen tomatoes left over from summer), but now I have to use up the rest of the hominy.  I'll probably freeze a cup or two for future use in another chili.  Seems like a common way to eat it as a simple side dish with butter/salt/pepper.  I'm also envisioning maybe a salad with spinach, hominy, beans, perhaps some sweet potato, and avocado?

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2558 on: December 12, 2019, 01:05:14 PM »
@NotJen, that Shepherds/Cottage Pie sounds like a creative way to use up those small amount of leftovers!
~~~~~~~~~~~

Last night's mystery leftovers (unlabeled) turned out to be chicken I'd pulled off of a beer can chicken DH grilled over the summer. I googled recipes for ingredients we had on hand, and ended up making Cheesy Chicken Spinach Bake.

So flavorful and garlicy, it turned out really well (I normally dislike leftover chicken, and panicked a little when I first opened the container).

Rural

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2559 on: December 12, 2019, 07:34:44 PM »
Leftover hominy is particularly good fried in cast iron ( preferably) with onions and Bacon or ham if you eat meat.

horsepoor

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2560 on: December 14, 2019, 10:13:06 AM »
On another note, anyone have any good cabbage recipes?  I got a double delivery from my CSA and now have 3 HUGE cabbages taking up the bottom shelf of my fridge.  (They're the standard green kind, if that matters to the recipe.)

If you eat meat, you could make kalpudding (I don't bother with the sauce)
Also look up eggroll in a bowl and unstuffed cabbage.

I also like to just roast cabbage wedges with a little fat drizzled on the the cut edges, salt and pepper, or with a slice or two of bacon draped over.  Wrap in tinfoil if you want them more soft, or unwrapped if you prefer crispy edges.

Working on using up some leftover root vegetables from the garden.  This week we'll be having beets, potatoes and parsnips.  Also planning to use up the last package of salmon from the freezer.
« Last Edit: December 14, 2019, 10:16:05 AM by horsepoor »

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2561 on: December 14, 2019, 01:41:48 PM »
Back from a business trip, super jet lagged. So far from the freezer:
-Made a container of butternut squash mac & cheese (ate half, put half in the fridge)
-Used the last of the chicken for sandwiches
-Ate one lonely frozen burger, after getting back from the airport, and not having eaten for 16 hours. It was perfect to eat in a crunch.

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2562 on: December 15, 2019, 06:14:29 AM »
I'm heading out of town on Friday, so made sure not to cook too much this weekend.  (The cabbage will have to wait until the new year, haha.)

I did another FaceTime cooking date with my long-distance SO, this time chicken chili.  I only needed to buy chicken to make the recipe, and used up some very old beans in my pantry, some sprouting onions, and some cornmeal that needs to be eaten before it gets rancid.

I'm going to need to go into full pantry challenge mode in January (and probably continuing through the winter) to use up my stores of things and start fresh in the spring.  The good news is I have a lot of tasty things to eat in that process!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2563 on: December 15, 2019, 11:39:51 AM »
-Defrosted a package of chicken sausages for dinner tonight
-And a small package of hot dogs for the child who won't eat sausage
-We'll pair that with ravioli that's in the fridge & needs to be eaten

Made the kids pizza rolls for lunch. Not the healthiest, but need them out of the freezer. Only 1/2 a package left!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2564 on: December 16, 2019, 08:13:24 PM »
It's actually worked out well that I didn't cook over the weekend. It wasn't the plan, but with jet lag & a crazy kids soccer schedule, it just happened. We are making our way through the open ravioli, the last container of broccoli cheddar soup, a few lonely hot dogs, & the last two chicken sausages. Tomorrow the adults have work dinners, so I'm guessing we will have the fridge mostly cleaned out by Thursday. Which is perfect - we head out on vacation on Saturday.

NotJen

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2565 on: December 17, 2019, 09:00:17 AM »
Yesterday I cooked a pound of beans from the pantry, and also made a butternut/tofu curry with one of the squashes in the pantry and tofu that was just at its best by date.  The day before I made chicken stock with the last of my saved veggie scraps and chicken parts.

Aside from the chili/cornbread I've promised to make tomorrow, I AM NOT COOKING ANYTHING NEW BEFORE I TRAVEL FOR CHRISTMAS.  My freezer is still full and I need to not add to it for a while.

Of course, I now have leftover buttermilk and coconut milk to use.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2566 on: December 17, 2019, 01:25:08 PM »
Have returned from a 3 day weekend of wedding celebrations.  Mostly ate out, but I did bring snacks from the pantry for the hotel room.

This week will include:
The rest of the salmon from one of the packages, and remaining shrimp
A roasted turnip
Deer chili from this summer
The remaining mozzarella cheese and pepperoni will turn into a Fathead pizza

This Saturday is holiday baking day.  Though I had to buy more flour and sugar for other items, I'll turn brown sugar and rest of the almonds into a homemade Almond Roca.  I also might use up some beat up phyllo dough (long story) and some of DH's HUGE bag of walnuts into my first attempt at baklava.  We'll see.  ;)

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2567 on: December 19, 2019, 02:34:55 PM »
Right on, @MonkeyJenga!!

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2568 on: December 20, 2019, 02:11:01 PM »
Nice progress, everyone! I finished the last of the ravioli & chicken sausage, my husband finished the soup & the fridge is looking pretty cleared out. We do still have some perishables (fruit & veggies) that I need to decide on freezing or packing. For tonight, I'm thinking pizza. We are opening gifts with the kids before we leave, & that will be an easy meal.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2569 on: December 30, 2019, 12:48:08 PM »
Friday for lunch I had the last serving of the Cheesy Chicken Spinach Bake I made a few weeks ago with leftover chicken from summer.  I didn't get to it earlier this month, so into the freezer it went.  I love the fact freezing leftovers is a thing.  :D

Saturday I did more baking in anticipation of family coming over yesterday.  I made hand pies from leftover pie crust and apple crisp from the summer, my first baklava to use up phyllo dough, honey and walnuts.  Chocolate chip cookies used more flour and sugar from pre-Christmas baking.  When my sister called the day before asking what she could bring, I told her about my quest to not buy anything.  She said she did have leftover tortilla chips, etc. from her daughter's wedding meals.  So, she brought them, and I cooked up one pound each pork sausage and ground beef and made my own taco spice blend.  We also used two cans refried beans and a can of olives.  The family enjoyed our impromptu nacho bar.

The weekend prior featured dinner with neighbors where we used up a ham, fresh strawberries frozen over the summer, and two cans green beans, another can of olives, among other items.

This month's grocery bill is the lowest since June.  We can actually slide open the top freezer drawer without things in the bottom drawer touching, LOL.

Dollar Slice

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2570 on: December 30, 2019, 02:41:29 PM »
My phone autocorrected a "t" to a "T" when I was jotting down a recipe, and as a result I made a batch of very tangy but very runny mayonnaise. I tried adding more oil to compensate, but then realized what happened and stopped since I would have to triple the oil to make it work and no one needs that much homemade mayonnaise. So now I have a LOT of runny mayo spoonable mustard aioli. :-P I dug around the freezer in desperation and found a couple of lightly freezer-burned chicken breasts way down in there. Instant Potted them and turned it into a pretty successful chicken salad with the mayo! Hooray. Now I only have half a batch of the mayo to use up... :-|  Not sure if there is anything besides chicken/tuna/potato salad that uses up any serious quantity of mayo. I live alone and you can't freeze it, so this is a tough one to get through.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2571 on: December 31, 2019, 10:29:50 AM »
@Dollar Slice, maybe some sort of mayonnaise based dip?  One of our favorites this time of year is my mom's cream cheese/mayo/sour cream with bacon bit dip.  We eat it with raw veggies, though I'm sure it would go well with crackers or chips.  :)

GermanStache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2572 on: December 31, 2019, 10:48:33 AM »
Hi everyone!

for the first quarter of 2020 I committed to a pantrychallenge. I will still get my weekly delivery of veggies, fruits, one litre of milk and one large tub of yoghurt plus 6 eggs. But everything else has to be from the pantry/freezer/fridge or be necessary for a specific planned meal. And that meal has to be cooked that week. These are the rules I set for myself.

Tomorrow I will inventory everything I have - including all the half packs of flour, spice packs and knickknacks that are in my cupboards. I dread this task and look forward to it at the same time.....I will keep you posted how my journey goes :-)
Happy 2020 to everyone! Love this board and the thread especially.

seemsright

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2573 on: December 31, 2019, 04:37:08 PM »
Hi everyone!

for the first quarter of 2020 I committed to a pantrychallenge. I will still get my weekly delivery of veggies, fruits, one litre of milk and one large tub of yoghurt plus 6 eggs. But everything else has to be from the pantry/freezer/fridge or be necessary for a specific planned meal. And that meal has to be cooked that week. These are the rules I set for myself.

Tomorrow I will inventory everything I have - including all the half packs of flour, spice packs and knickknacks that are in my cupboards. I dread this task and look forward to it at the same time.....I will keep you posted how my journey goes :-)
Happy 2020 to everyone! Love this board and the thread especially.

I am doing a pantry challenge for Jan myself. Hubby and I just did our annual what we spent process. And our food was very high at $654 a month for just 3 of us and our little is only 9. My pantry is packed, and I have quite a bit in the freezer also. I will still have to buy a few fresh veggies and fresh fruit and milk.

I started this project last week. And man I still have the most random in my pantry. I am sure it was items I was to make meals with that I never got around to. So I have things like a massive container of rice seasoning from a trip to the Asian grocery store. So tonight I pulled out some ground pork I had stashed and added the rice seasoning, some oats, a sprinkle of home dried kale, some garlic and soy sauce a dash of fish sauce and made meatballs and topped it with a BBQ sauce I made from two McDonald bbq sauce packets, some soy, a bit of orange marmalade and the bit of brown mustard that was left in the container. I will bake those up for finger foods tonight. I will also cook up the cabbage that is in the back of the fridge and maybe some rice. 

I am spending 2020 really simplifying our food, how we eat and how I shop. I no longer want to have to comb though my freezer or pantry trying to find what I am looking for. This is a massive undertaking for me as I have always bought in massive bulk and have had many options on hand at all times. I would love to get our food budget down to $500 and take that extra $150 a month and save towards a extra vacation a year.

GermanStache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2574 on: January 04, 2020, 12:58:34 PM »

I am spending 2020 really simplifying our food, how we eat and how I shop. I no longer want to have to comb though my freezer or pantry trying to find what I am looking for. This is a massive undertaking for me as I have always bought in massive bulk and have had many options on hand at all times. I would love to get our food budget down to $500 and take that extra $150 a month and save towards a extra vacation a year.
Me too! My plan and dream is to find out what items REALLY are a staple for us and only buy those. Since I am also trying to buy packagefree whereever possible this would simplify things even more for me.

I always try out new kinds of oils and nuts but don´t really note a difference to what we usually use. So I know already that I only need two kinds of oils - olive oil and Rapsöl (don´t know what it is called in english, sorry..). No need for pistachio oil and hazelnut oil and all the other kinds. It would make shopping and storing so much easier. Now to find the perfect products for rices and pasta (don´t get me started on pasta... I always buy the funny shapes but to me they taste the same... )
I finished my inventory and am really proud. The not buying thing is really challenging. I thought several times during the last few days "oh, I need this and that". Even writing it on the shopping list. And then I thought " no, you can use Y and Z instead". But I didn´t think it would be such a struggle......



zee dot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2575 on: January 04, 2020, 03:24:04 PM »
I'm back for my annual eat-in January.
Today I ate some smoked salmon, crackers and cheese.

Goals to use up this week: cheese,  quinoa, salami.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2576 on: January 04, 2020, 09:53:35 PM »
Our freezers are actually in a manageable state, after our "eat as much as possible out of the freezer" December plan. I now need to focus on the pantry, meal planning & ensuring we use up bits & bobs that aren't part of our normal menu. We have three bags of risotto rice, for example, but my husband avoids gluten, so making risotto for dinner isn't exactly part of the plan.

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2577 on: January 06, 2020, 09:32:28 AM »
I've been doing well at not buying anything.  The goal is to wait until the 15th to do a restock of canned items and frozen veggies.  I went to the store last Tuesday for fresh produce, cheese and water.  I'll go again this Wed for the same.  Similar to @GermanStache, I've been creative at using things up in lieu of going to the store.

Recently:
-Used the last of last year's venison, 2 cans tomatoes, and a can of tomato paste in a slow cooker recipe and served it on top of a bag of pasta from the freezer
-Used some mustard packets as the bottled mustard is almost gone
-Used one pound each ground beef and pork for hamburgers
-We were out of eggs (!) so I found an egg substitute recipe online to make corn muffins
-Sent DH to work with leftover muffins, leftover lovely spice cake our neighbor brought over, leftover chili, a huge tin of popcorn, cookies, etc.  His co-workers were appreciative.
-We finished the huge bags of grated cheese and tortilla chips my sister left last weekend
-The rest of the bacon was wrapped around asparagus served with the rest of the shrimp for NYE supper.  Yum!
-I was under the weather and a can of chicken noodle soup and TheraFlu from our stash came in handy
-This week will include salmon, the remaining chicken breast, the last smoked sausage, and package of ham steaks

Tess

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2578 on: January 06, 2020, 09:37:58 AM »
I did a major pantry organization and clean out this weekend.  I have lots of food to use up, and have organized my canned goods to use the oldest first.  I have some out of date cans that I am sure are fine but do want to use.  On menu this month -- chili (use up out of date canned kidney beans and tomato sauce), tuna noodle casserole (use up tuna, out of date cream of mushroom soup and egg noodles), shepherd's pie (use up out of date canned green beans, out of date tomato soup and some old instant mashed potatoes) and taco soup (use up rest if out of date canned beans, and some canned corn).     

UPDATE:  Made a corn pudding last night using an expired package of Jiffy corn bread mix, an expired can of creamed corn and some expired sour cream (plus some melted butter and two eggs).  Came out great!
« Last Edit: January 07, 2020, 10:09:21 AM by Tess »

zee dot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2579 on: January 06, 2020, 10:02:38 AM »
I used a can of chicken, a can of black beans and some bread crumbs yesterday. 

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2580 on: January 07, 2020, 01:12:44 PM »
We had our pantry doors replaced, and my 12 year old "helpfully" put everything back in the pantry before I got home again. His ideas about organization are ... quite different than mine. For example, the most visible & usable shelf now holds his snacks. ;-)

I'm going to use this as an opportunity go through the pantry, as I'll need to invest some time in getting everything reorganized, clean it out & come up with a list of things to use up.

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2581 on: January 07, 2020, 08:06:23 PM »
This weekend I shredded one of my huge cabbages with my food processor (like magic!  I should use that thing more often!) and made 2 dishes - Egg Roll in a Bowl and braised cabbage with apples.  Both were really good and 100% of ingredients were from my freezer/pantry/fridge.  Of course, both have/will end up adding to the leftover stockpile in the freezer...

Yesterday I forced myself to eat one of the cooked sausages I froze this summer that I hadn't really liked back then.  It made me nauseous (more of a mental reaction than a physical one, I think) after a few bites so today I threw away the rest of them.  I don't like to waste food, but I'm definitely not willing to power through eating food that makes me feel sick.

I'm trying to go more than a week after getting back from an extended trip before going to the grocery store - I think I'll be able to pull it off!  To be fair, I did pre-stock my fridge with milk, almond milk, and yogurt beforehand.

Naomi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2582 on: January 07, 2020, 11:55:14 PM »
I (this is just for me) want to participate in this thread as a way of keeping myself accountable and reducing food, not so much waste, but figuring out alternative uses for things so I can buy less.
For ex, I'm going to make meatballs tonight, but I don't have any bread crumbs. I do have oats though that I use to make granola and can turn those into flour because I only need 1/3 cup. This way I don't have to buy another container of something I rarely use.

I did buy some groceries earlier this week so I'm going to try to make it the rest of the month w/out buying anything other than vegetables, maybe fruit.
I buy pasture raised chicken and it was 50% off, so I stocked up.

8 lbs chicken, 2 lbs of ground beef, and 15 eggs. 
2 lbs of green beans, 1.5 lbs carrots, 1.5 lbs broccoli, 24 oz frozen strawberries and bananas (3 8 oz packs), and 2 lemons.
1 lb flour, 2 lbs pasta, 3 lbs oats, 2 cups rice (uncooked).
1.9 lbs honey, 7 oz coconut oil, 1.8 lbs sugar.
8 oz chocolate chips, 4 oz dried cherries, 3.75 candy bars (3 oz), 2 bags of chips (6.5 oz), 2 ginger ales (7.5 ozs).
*theses weights are estimates, I don't own a food scale*.

So, looking at that, I could live off chocolate and flour/oats for a little while. I go through phases where I try to quit ginger ale so this is the last of a 6 pk. I primarily drink water.

Tonight, I used one pack of the chicken (barbecued chicken), half a bag of spinach, and 3 old potatoes + 2 eggs (turned into potato salad). That will last me a couple more meals.
The strawberries and bananas, I thought I'd eat with granola, but the texture of the bananas is gross to me. Those are going to have to be smoothies even though I'm not really a smoothie person. I forgot about the thing (10 oz can) of collagen(powdered) I bought last year, about 8 oz left. Will add that to the smoothies.

« Last Edit: January 08, 2020, 01:14:15 AM by Naomi »

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2583 on: January 08, 2020, 09:23:38 AM »
I'd forgotten about the few pounds of bagged potatoes leftover from Christmas.  The plan:

Last night: Steak cut fries went with our chicken tenders and cauliflower tots
Tonight:  Diced into the sausage and yellow squash hash
Tomorrow:  Diced on the side of our steak ham and eggs

That should take care of them.  ;)

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2584 on: January 08, 2020, 08:57:20 PM »
We managed to eat the rest of the chicken curry (second half is in the freezer). And the rice. I was in a hurry to get dinner together tonight before a meeting. Kids also had quesadillas, to use up the last of the shredded cheese & tortillas.

NotJen

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2585 on: January 11, 2020, 10:05:53 AM »
I've been doing really well eating out of the freezer after I got back from vacation on the 3rd!  I've eaten several frozen portions of meals I made last year, 3 sweet potatoes from the pantry, and 1 last-minute 'new' meal completely out of the freezer.  I spent $22 on fresh veggies, fruits, and some diary, and ate out only for social purposes.  Looking forward to making more progress on the freezer this week, and aiming for an unusually low-spend month for food!

SquashingDebt

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2586 on: January 11, 2020, 12:01:44 PM »
My grocery shopping list for later today has gotten longer than I'd like, considering that I'm trying to eat out of the pantry and freezer.  But, most of what I'm buying are either things I need to buy each week (dairy, etc.) or from this month's personalized coupons from my grocery store that are for things I buy on a routine basis (vitamins, frozen black bean burgers, etc.).

The good news is that I only need to buy one thing for my lunches and dinners this week:  lettuce.  (I'm having salads, freezer leftovers, and veggie burgers with homemade buns and coleslaw from the last of my cabbage.)

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2587 on: January 11, 2020, 02:20:23 PM »
I'll echo @SquashingDebt and say that my grocery list is longer than I'd like, considering we are trying to eat down our pantry & freezer. Here's the most recent progress:
-Cauliflower crust & regular crust pizza for dinner last night. Two pizzas out of the freezer. Used up some of the fancy pepperoni my husband rogue purchased
-Made up edamame & tortellini today, and will have for lunch for the weekend. One package out of the fridge, one out of the freezer
-I had a travel oatmeal cup in the pantry from long ago. Turned that into breakfast today

My youngest son plans to make chicken stir fry for dinner tonight. We shall see how that goes ;-)

Noodle

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2588 on: January 12, 2020, 09:33:04 PM »
December is a bonkers month because I work a totally different schedule and have family in town (not staying with me, but I spend a lot of time with them) for several weeks. So happy to be back to normal pursuits and tackling the pantry again!

So far, used up the end of a bottle of wing sauce with some chicken fingers, and the end of a jar of jam in the coffee cake. Was especially proud that I discovered the buttermilk had gone bad in the middle of making the cake and subbed plain milk plus lemon juice--it worked fine. Made a chicken soup in the Instant pot that cleared out two frozen chicken thighs, a bag of baby spinach, ramen noodles that had been hanging around, and a partial can of coconut milk.


MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2589 on: January 13, 2020, 11:47:50 AM »
The kitchen freezer (and pantry!) is really empty!  And my creativity has increased along the way.  :)  Thankfully, our garage freezer is full of the locally raised beef and pork we bought last year.

~Last night, I used a pound of ground beef and a few Nathan hot dogs in Coney Island pie.  The recipe calls for eggs, which I didn't have, and it turned out just fine.  Served it with the next to last bag of frozen veggies.
~Made two servings overnight oatmeal for DH using steel cut oats, some frozen berries purchased over the summer, and some of his dried apricots.
~I neglected to thaw anything for tonight, so DH will have soup and a sandwich, and I'll eat the last frozen Atkins meal.
~Tomorrow is Taco Tuesday and I'll make ground beef taco meat with a homemade spice blend, and cheese shells using whatever cheese we have on hand.

Similar to others, my grocery list is getting a bit long as we are completely out of what I consider staples in our home:  Chicken breast, shrimp, olives, etc.  Payday is Wednesday.  :)

Naomi

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2590 on: January 14, 2020, 04:04:56 AM »
Trying to make it until Thursday before I buy anything. I still have a lot of chicken. My cats got one chicken breast because I waited a day late to cook it and it smelled off.
The only thing I've bought in the last week was a bottle of lemonade at work for $2.

I'm going to make hamburgers today with last 1 lb of ground beef and eat those with the last of the potato chips and green beans. Have some leftover buffalo chicken (mayo+hot sauce packet from work), rice, broccoli, and carrots to finish. And I made some pancakes.

Since I'm only cooking for myself, I don't mind eating the same things all the time. I work 12.5 hr night shifts so I eat several times at work and it sometimes ends up being the most random things.

slackmax

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2591 on: January 14, 2020, 07:02:43 AM »
Found some old cans of Herbalife powdered soup mixture (16 ounces, makes 21 cups of soup ) , and Slimwell Balanced Meal SHake.  No date on the Herbalife.  Best by Feb, 2004 on the SLimwell.        Guess I'll try them both and see how they taste. Some are unopened. May try to sell the unopened ones  at a  flea market.   

SunnyDays

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2592 on: January 14, 2020, 09:01:38 AM »
Found some old cans of Herbalife powdered soup mixture (16 ounces, makes 21 cups of soup ) , and Slimwell Balanced Meal SHake.  No date on the Herbalife.  Best by Feb, 2004 on the SLimwell.        Guess I'll try them both and see how they taste. Some are unopened. May try to sell the unopened ones  at a  flea market.   

No No No No .............  That's taking frugality too far.  Throw them out!

MountainGal

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2593 on: January 14, 2020, 11:08:26 AM »
Found about a half pound leftover pork sausage in the freezer I'd cooked for tacos a few months ago.  I'll add it to tonight's ground beef for Taco Tuesday.  :D

SailingOnASmallSailboat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2594 on: January 14, 2020, 12:34:55 PM »
I get lost in the awesomeness of this thread, so thanks to all.

House goes on the market in a few weeks, and when we move I don't want to move (or waste) food. So the push is on to only shop when I need to (ie no veggies at all or half and half for my coffee, one of the things I refuse to go without) and (perhaps the bigger one) ONLY to buy what I need (said veggies and half and half). Let's see how it goes. I'm out of yellow onions and almost out of garlic (the horror), which will be a trigger for a store run; I'll buy a cabbage as a bulk veggie filler to be able to extend my time between the store past what lettuce would last.

Tonight: pork tenderloin with a greek salad
Options then left: pork and veggie fried rice, quesadillas. Shepherd's pie of some version with pork and whatever veggies I have and mashed potatoes on top. Pancakes for dinner. Grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Maybe I can put off the store until early next week. We'll see.

slackmax

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2595 on: January 16, 2020, 06:12:21 PM »
Found some old cans of Herbalife powdered soup mixture (16 ounces, makes 21 cups of soup ) , and Slimwell Balanced Meal SHake.  No date on the Herbalife.  Best by Feb, 2004 on the SLimwell.        Guess I'll try them both and see how they taste. Some are unopened. May try to sell the unopened ones  at a  flea market.   


No No No No .............  That's taking frugality too far.  Throw them out!


SunnyDays,

I  appreciate your response, but why? Do you think they might be harmful to consume due to being old?   

zee dot

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2596 on: January 18, 2020, 09:32:54 AM »
Cooked a duck out of the freezer stash.
Used up the last of some peaches,  a bottle of eggnog,  the last of a bag of pecans. Continued good work!

Goals for this long weekend: eat the fruit and salad stuff before it goes bad.

Tris Prior

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2597 on: January 18, 2020, 12:55:38 PM »
I found a little coconut flour (from what? Uncertain) and I have some heavy cream to use up so I'm going to give this recipe a try. I'm not keto but how bad can baked cheese be?

http://uplateanyway.com/keto/crazy-bread-breadsticks-low-carb-gluten-free/

I need to figure out what to do with the 2 1/2 tofurkey sausages in my freezer. They're horrible. Spongy and too salty, and just bad flavor. I didn't like them in an egg casserole. Maybe in a vegan jambalaya? Throw enough hot sauce in there and maybe I won't notice?

SailingOnASmallSailboat

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2598 on: January 18, 2020, 01:16:24 PM »

I need to figure out what to do with the 2 1/2 tofurkey sausages in my freezer. They're horrible. Spongy and too salty, and just bad flavor. I didn't like them in an egg casserole. Maybe in a vegan jambalaya? Throw enough hot sauce in there and maybe I won't notice?

I was going to suggest grinding them up and using them in a spaghetti sauce or chili, but if they have bad flavor I'd pitch them. Why waste the other ingredients on a concoction that is yucky? Sometimes you win experiments and sometimes you don't. Don't buy them again, obviously.

I'm a big believer in using up leftovers in creative ways, but if an ingredient tastes yucky out it goes. Same reason I won't cook with wine I won't drink on its own.

slackmax

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Re: Eat All The Food In Your House - Take 2
« Reply #2599 on: January 18, 2020, 01:25:19 PM »
Found an old box of Lemon Bars mix in the pantry. Tried to cook it up. Kind of a disaster thanks to unclear instructions (male here, just following instructions, no innate sense of what is crust and what is topping!) The vague instructions did not identify which of the 2 packets was crust and which was topping, and no markings on them, of course. I'm supposed to just know.  think I used the wrong one for crust. I can eat half of it anyway. The bottom part (supposedly crust) is stuck to the bottom of the pan  and I'll have to soak it off over a few days.

Goos news is that I'll  have the box of Lemon Bars out of the house, never to return.